Why Radiologists Make Mistakes

Ambiguity and lack of regulatory control is echoed in David Powner’s article published in the Lancet Journal: “Clinicians do not always follow an established policy or provide appropriate documentation. Surveys or chart reviews showed that doctors sometimes failed to document specifics of clinical examinations, omitted criteria demanded

Radiologists are medical doctors (MDs) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs) who specialize in diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and ultrasound. Radiologist report on the radiology report. The radiology report is primarily a written communication between the radiologist interpreting the imaging study and the physician who requested the examination. Radiology records and reports often contain complex anatomical and medical terms such as type of exam, clinical history, comparison, technique, and findings. After the radiologist discovered a suspicion lesion on the right breast, the Radiologist reports back to the Internal medicine physician who originally requested the imaging study and who then conveys the results to the

Blendon, R. DesRoches, C. Brodie, M., Benson, J. Rosen, A., & Schneider, A. (2002). Views of practicing physicians and the public on medical errors. New England Journal of Medicine. 347, 1933-1940.

If you create a mistake while exposing radiographs on a patient, never say “Oops.” Patients need reassurance that the treatment they are receiving is done in a professional, correct manner. Just continue on with their radiographic treatment.

Defensive medical decisions, better known as defensive medicine, is the practice of recommending additional diagnostic tests or treatments that may not be necessary. The primary function of this practice is for physicians to reduce the chances of litigation. These practices are inefficient and wasteful due to the medical legal system, which causes physicians to order further imaging examinations and diagnostic measures for assurance purposes. Defensive medicine cannot be measured and therefore the impact on the cost of healthcare has been underestimated and minimized (Sopher, 2015). 75% of doctors said that additional tests and procedures are necessary to avoid litigation according to the physician survey (Sopher, 2015).

Imagine this: ten seconds left in your regional high school basketball game, and you go up for a layup, but when you come down you land on your ankle wrong. You’re sure it’s broke, and you need an x-ray. So what happens when you go to the hospital? Will the doctor take the x-ray or will someone else take it? When a situation like this happens, a person will go see a doctor, but a radiologist technician will be the one to take the x-ray. A radiologist technician, also known as a radiographer, performs imaging examinations such as x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans on patients. To become a radiologist technician, people will need many years of schooling, but once the schooling is completed, it will be well worth it for the benefits and pay.

Doctors misdiagnose between 10-15% of medical cases each year. These misdiagnosed patients have been linked to physicians being too overconfident. According to Psychology Today, in a study performed by a cognitive research psychologist, Ashley Meyer, Ph.D. and her colleagues, the researchers gave 118 physicians four cases to diagnose with two cases being easy to diagnose and the other two being difficult. The researchers asked the physicians how confident they were in their diagnosis. The results indicated that the physicians got 55% of the diagnoses correct for the two easy cases; 5% of the diagnoses were correct for the difficult cases. When asked to rate their confidence on a scale of 0-10, the physicians rated their confidence

Radiologic Technologist have a huge role when it comes to the diagnoses of a patient, it is because of their work that doctors are able to have an accurate diagnoses (Institute for Career Research 2010)

1. What are the main services provided by the department? • Radiological exam is designed to capture an image or look inside a specific area of your body for the purpose of providing data to your medical team in order that they may make an accurate diagnosis and recommend the best course of action. • Breast Imaging Services • MRI Scans • C.T.

I reviewed the article “Perceptual error and the culture of open disclosure in Australian radiology”. This article gives a slightly different view with regard to the use of second opinions for reducing medical errors. In Australia they have what is called open disclosure in which patient undergoing diagnostic procedures have all of the films made available to them. The thought of this being that the films can then be carried with the patient to other practitioners who have the ability to review the films and they do not need to rely on the initial read of the radiologist. This is in essence is a second opinion and defecto.

Clinicians and healthcare personnel report that the constant source of delay is the missing of clinical information leading to medical errors. The case reported in the book The Wall of silence, it is that a physician shared a story of a system failure encountered when caring for an elderly man. The patient was sent for a Head CT scan but the result was never sent to the physician due to an administrative snafu in the radiology department. The problem was that there was no system to assure that every test ordered had a result that was seen and acknowledged by the ordering doctor. Four years later the doctor ordered another CT Scan, in which was found a benign tumor

Knowledge of law may help the Radiologist or Radiographer to prevent complications and then any legal issues with patients. A lot of the issue of medical negligence generally are related to the physician patient relationship. Negligence is usually a lack of attention of the Radiologist or Radiographer and also can result from insufficient communication which is the most typical cause of negligence suits against radiographers either with patient or other medical

Misdiagnosing is something that happens often and can result in medical malpractice. When seeking medical advice you put your trust into the health care provider to take the appropriate measures to determine the correct diagnosis. However, there are times that providers can make mistakes which leads to an improper or delayed diagnosis. Failing to properly diagnose a patient can prevent patients from receiving the correct treatment. By receiving improper treatment patients are at a risk of further injuries and possible fatalities. “The most common missed diagnoses for adults were cancer and heart attacks. Other that were commonly-occurring were appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy, and bone fractures. For children, the most missed diagnoses were

Kim Adcock of Kaiser Permanente; he facilitated, collected and organized data to identify failure of physicians in reading mammograms, this was because of inherent difficulties in reading mammograms correctly, the medical profession has come to expect a 10-15% error rate, even among expert readers. Consequently, discovering that a reader has missed one or even several tumors is not necessarily indicative of that reader’s diagnostic ability and may not provide much incentive for learning from failure. By contrast, when Dr. Adcock became radiology chief at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, he utilized the longitudinal data available in the HMO’s records to proactively identify failure and produce detailed, systematic

On the off chance that a specialist suspects that the issue warrants further examination, tests are should have been make sure patients get the right conclusion.